Keiji Akaashi
is a second year at Fukurōdani Academy, and he is the volleyball team's vice-captain and setter. Appearance Akashu has short, messy, black hair and slate-grey eyes with slightly thick eyebrows; in some official art, his eyes appear green but in others, they are more blue. He tends to wear an emotionless or slightly exasperated expression a great majority of the time. He appears at the beginning of the Tokyo summer training camp wearing a navy T-shirt with a light aqua sports bib on top, the number 5 printed in black, together with a pair of white shorts. His shoes are white with yellow details, and he doesn't appear to be wearing kneepads during practice. When dressed in his school uniform, he wears a light gray blazer and black trousers, held up by a black belt. His shirt is neatly tucked into the waistband, and his blue tie is knotted neatly. Personality Akashu can be seen as calm and composed most of the time, not showing a wide range of emotions. He tends to call people out on the foolish things they do, especially Bokuto, who he seems to be relatively close with despite their opposite personalities. As opposed to being shy, Akashu is somehow blunt with the things he says and often invites himself into the conversation when necessary, occasionally throwing in a witty comment or response. Although he is polite to a certain degree, this could be due to the fact that he is younger than most of his teammates. On top of that, he is also very humble, knowing his own limits in his skills as he pointed out he could not have done what Kageyama did. Then again he can be pretty cheeky as he called Kuroo 'The pain-in-the-ass-Kuroo-san'. Background Akashu attends Fukurodani Academy as a second-year student. Although he is just a second-year, he is the vice-captain of the volleyball club. Plot Tokyo Expedition Arc He's part of the Fukurodani team that goes to the summer training campchapter 81. Kuroo's practicing with Bokuto when they spot Tsukishima and invite him to block for themchapter 86. As Tsukishima's trying to back out, Akaashi appears behind Bokuto, stating that no one else from Fukurodani will practice with the ace because Bokuto's spiking practices are endless. Tsukishima joins the match, going on Kuroo's side. Akaashi sets for Bokuto. Some time later, after Yamaguchi yells at Tsukishima for his behaviorchapter 89, Tsukishima approaches Bokuto, Akaashi, and Kuroo, who are practicing together again. Tsukishima asks them why they would train so much for a simple club and as Kuroo and Bokuto's replies start going off topic, Akaashi tells Tsukishima to interrupt. Tsukishima practices with Bokuto, Kuroo, and Akaashi again but this time, Hinata and Lev join themchapter 91. A 3-on-3 match's created with Akaashi, Hinata, and Bokuto on one team (the Owls) and Lev, Kuroo, and Tsukishima on another (the Cats); Akaashi states that the teams are incredibly unbalanced because his team's composed of the shortest players while the Cats are the opposite. At the end of the game, as Bokuto announces that he will teach Hinata a special skill, Akaashi watches him apprehensively. In Fukurodani's practice match against the whole Karasuno team, Hinata pulls off the move that Bokuto taught him. Akaashi points it outchapter 92, embarrassing Bokuto. As the game progresses, Bokuto starts making mistakes. Akaashi goes over the choices he can make that will have the least trouble with Bokuto. In the end, he decides that he would rather toss to Bokuto so he won't sulk. However, Bokuto makes an attack error and becomes depressed, so Akaashi tells him to stay in the background and take the time to calm down. Akaashi continues playing normally even as he plans for Bokuto's comebackchapter 95. In the end, Bokuto regains his confidence and scores the winning point. At the barbecue, Akaashi hands a cup of water to a choking Kageyamachapter 97. Statistics Akaashi is overall a very balanced player and a good setter who can accurately set the toss for a wide range of attacks. He has been noted for his strategic skills as well, and his ability to perform a quick-set even when the receive is a bit sloppy. He is also really analytical, for during the Nekoma-Fukurodani match, when Bokuto forgot how to do cross spikes, Akaashi was able to successfully pull it off. He was also complimented on this by Nekoma's coach after the match. Relationships Kōtarō Bokuto Akaashi seems to be the closest person to Bokuto, often getting dragged into his antics whether he likes it or not. The setter is often tasked with dealing with Bokuto's mood swings, and Akaashi can predict which of Bokuto's moods will surface with each move. Akaashi can tell when Bokuto's playing is off, even if it's something small. They also hang out together outside of practice in school. Although Bokuto can get immensely annoying, Akaashi continues to hang out with him nonetheless. He also seems to have a list of Bokuto's weaknesses memorized.chapter 194 Trivia *His favorite food is boiled rapeseed plants with karashi mustard dressing (Nanohana no Karashiae) *His current concern: I want to up my physical power levels a bit more. *His star sign is Sagittarius. *He has a habit of fiddling with his fingers; this can be seen in the manga in several panels and official arts as well. *Akaashi is known to have larger hands than Bokuto (according to the Haikyuu store) *He has been observed to enjoy onigiri, also known as Japanese rice balls. *'Nomenclature' **Keiji (京治) - Keiji is a popular boys' name in Japan, out of which 京治 is a rare writing of the name in kanji - more common versions include 慶次, 啓治, etc. 京 means "city", while "治" means "to govern/to cure". It is likely that this is simply an attempt by the author to transcribe the sound "keiji" to kanji, and is unlikely that the literal meaning of the kanji carries any significance or meaning. ** Akaashi (赤葦) - This is probably a reference to the アカアシモリフクロウ (akaashi-mori-fukurou), known as the rufous-legged owl in English. Note: the species of owl is not written as "赤葦" ("赤" meaning red, and "葦" meaning reed) - again, this is likely to be a transcription of the katakana into kanji, and the literal meaning of the kanji is likely to be insignificant. Quotes * "I don't think it's possible to prevent them from scoring even a single point, though." (To Bokuto, Chapter 92) * "In other words, they are no longer paying attention to our ace." (Chapter 95) * "We'll let you have the good part, so make your comeback already, ace!" (Chapter 95) * "Well then. Don't think or worry about anything... Just spike some crosses. As long as it feels good. We'll be sure to clear a path for you." (To Bokuto, Chapter 195) References }} Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Fukurōdani Academy Volleyball Club Category:Vice Captains Category:Setters Category:2nd Year